This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. 119(f) of the application for a grant of New Zealand Plant Breeders Rights which was filed for the instant plant variety on Oct. 1, 2008, Application Number HOM254.
The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Cosmos, also commonly known as chocolate cosmos, that is grown for use as a flowering plant for pots and containers and for planting in the garden and landscape. The new cultivar is known botanically as Cosmos×atrosanguineus and will be referred to hereinafter by the cultivar name ‘3013/01’.
‘3013/01’ is a complex hybrid plant that is the product of a breeding program which is conducted jointly by the inventors. Pollinations are carried out in a cultivated area in Dunedin, New Zealand and evaluations and selections are carried out in Auckland, New Zealand.
‘3013/01’ resulted from the open pollination between one seedling which had been raised from the seed strain of Cosmos which is sold commercially as Cosmos Pinot Noir as female parent plant and an unknown, unreleased seedling which is no longer retained by the inventors as male parent plant. Whereas plants raised as seedlings from the Pinot Noir strain are invariably sparse in habit, same-age plants of ‘3013/01’ are well branched at the base and thereby more dense in habit. The inventors are unable to recall the characteristics of the male parent plant.
The closest variety of Cosmos known to the inventor is Cosmos ‘New Choco’ (U.S. Plant Pat. No. 19,223). ‘3013/01’ maintains a compact habit such that the width of a mature flowering one year old plant is approximately the same as its height, including the flowers. By comparison, ‘New Choco’ grows with an outwardly spreading habit such the width of a mature plants is approximately one and a half times greater than its height.
‘3013/01’ may also be compared with the variety Cosmos ‘Chocamocha’ (unpatented). Whereas the foliage of ‘3013/01’ is mid-green in color, the foliage of ‘Chocamocha’ is silver-green in color. In addition, the flowers of ‘3013/01’ are dark maroon in color whereas the flowers of ‘Chocamocha’ are lighter and redder in color.
Asexual reproduction of ‘3013/01’ was first accomplished under the inventors' direction at a tissue culture laboratory in Auckland, New Zealand. The method of asexual propagation used was division by tissue culture. The inventors have grown out successive generations of plants resulting from the tissue culture and have determined that the characteristics of ‘3013/01’ are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction.